Link Start?
by LN777
Summary: The Death Game in Aincrad seen from a different point of view. Roza (OC) doesn't know anyone in the game when she starts playing, but decides to help try to conquer the castle. As she meets new people and find new experiences, will she come to enjoy the time spent in the virtual world? Will she survive until the end?
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: This is my very first fanfic, and I haven't written anything in a while, so it may turn out rather sloppy, but I appreciate anyone who has the time to read it and gives it a try. This was inspired by the fanfic 'Death Game' (which is truly amazing) so the style may be alike – the main characters will all be OC, but I'll put in some canon characters and I'll try to make all the details as close as possible to the original story, SAO. I obviously don't own anything other than some OC characters :P So without any further ado, here goes:_

**Chapter 1: Link Start?**

_Why in the world was I soo excited to come to Japan?_

I sat on a couch by myself with the TV on for background noise. Some sort of TV show seemed to be playing, but I'd never watched any of the previous episodes, so I couldn't really follow the story. Once again I sighed, looking around the room for something to do in this house that was not my own, but my grandparents' from my mother's side.

My mother is a Japanese woman, who had a special liking to English, and had met my father while studying it in university. My father on the other hand is a Canadian who liked Japanese so he had come to Japan to study Japanese_._ After meeting, they probably ended up being a lovey-dovey couple that I seriously didn't want to think about, and had my brother here in Japan. Soon after though, my dad had a job offer in Canada, so the whole family moved there, which is where I came in. With a new baby, my parents decided to just stay in Canada, so I was brought up as a Canadian. Even so, my brother and mother spoke mostly in Japanese at home, so I was actually fluent in Japanese as well. Though reading and writing is a whole different issue...

Either way, my family comes over to Japan to visit my mother's side of the family every other year, but this year was the first time my brother and father didn't come. Now in the year of 2022, my brother was already 18 and is busy with a job. Me, only being 15 though, had lots of time so I came to Japan for a week and a half in the middle of November.

This is a pretty awkward time to just go on a trip, but it actually works out quite nicely because I have an extra holiday for school (causing me to only miss 7 days of school), the plane tickets were cheaper, and I get to pick up the game Sword Art Online for my brother.

My brother is a huge game addict, 'otaku' or so I call him, and he really felt the need to get this game as soon as he possibly can. Of course he already had a nerve gear, but he wasn't expecting to get the software for the very first day. I mean we do live in Canada.. But with some sort of miraculous luck, he won a contest online through some other game, and was told the game will be sent by mail. Unfortunately, they wouldn't mail it to another country, so he had it sent to my grandparents' where I would pick it up.

I'm really not that big of a gamer, but I've played a few video games and my brother talks about it so much I'd say I'm fairly knowledgeable when it comes to games, especially for a girl. I've been loving the whole idea of a virtual world, so I'm fairly excited for this new VRMMO as well. I even brought along my brother's nerve gear so I would be able to play it in Japan.

But at the moment, I'm just lounging in my grandparents' living room with absolutely nothing to do. My mom was out with my grandparents, shopping, and all of my few friends in Japan had to go to school, so I really had no idea what I was supposed to do.

Sighing again, I looked around the room and spotted my brother's nerve gear along with the game, SAO, which had arrived a few days ago. If only I was actually able to play the game already.. Unfortunately, as it is an MMO game, I'm not able to play it until the server actually opens, which I had no idea when.

Glancing back at the TV, I noticed how it was now (coincidentally) showing commercials featuring SAO . Apparently the server opens on the 6th of November, at one pm. ... ..Wait isn't that really soon?!

I dashed over to the calender that was hanging on the wall to my left, to realize it didn't help me what so ever. Seriously, what vacations do to you.. I could go upstairs to get my phone, which actually shows the date, but I was fairly certain today was the 6th, if not the 7th. Quickly glancing at the clock pointing 2:00pm, I decided I might as well try out the game. If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work, either way, I won't have to walk all the way upstairs.

I quickly set up the nerve gear, connecting it to a power outlet and inserting the game. I figured I'll just quickly test out the game, so I didn't bother making a comfortable setting for me and just lay down on the couch I was sitting on. I realized I forgot to turn off the TV, but hey, I'd be back soon anyway, I thought, too lazy to even get up to get the remote controller. Closing my eyes and hoping it was the right date, I quietly said:

'Link Start?'

_Author's Note: The first chapter has a lot of background story so it might've been a little slow.. hopefully you can stick around to continue reading. Please review, I'd gladly accept criticism, so please tell me what you think :) I don't really know where I'm going with this story myself, but meh, we'll see :P_


	2. Chapter 2: Learning

**Chapter 2: Learning**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online._

As soon as I finished saying the words, my consciousness was immediately stolen by the nerve gear. After a moment of darkness, there was a swirl of colours and the opening menu for SAO appeared. There were three save slots, and knowing my brother would want the first, I decided to use the second.

Like all other games on this consul, the moment I decided what to do, the nerve gear read my mind and opened up the second account. There (not that I had much choice) I decided to start the game from the beginning, and the 'screen' faded black.

A moment later, 'I' materialized into an empty room with mirrors as walls. The girl that stood in the mirror, reflecting 'me' had the most plain features I'd even seen, but a window popped up in front of me within seconds letting me know I'm able to choose my own features.

In reality I look like a true half. In Canada, everyone would think I'm completely Japanese, but as soon as I come to Japan, they think I'm completely Canadian. Seriously though, I'm a proud Canadian, and wanted to look it for once.

So I completely made myself look like a foreigner with long blond hair and blue eyes, but kept my height the same as original, 5 4". Done with that, there was one last thing to do before starting to play, which was deciding on a user name.

My real name is actually very strange, Aurora Sho Hashitani. My last name's completely Japanese while my first name is English.. though uncommon. Oh, and not to mention the fact that my middle name's a boy's name in Japan.

My friends back at home decided Aurora is too much of a hassle to say, so my nickname became Rora, which is confusing since I had a friend named Laura, but it worked out fine. Now though, I decided it's time to make a name that's even more simple.

Sora could work, but it sounded almost too Japanese for my avatar, so I ended up deciding on Roza. It's not like the name matters too much anyway – I won't be playing this game too much, and I didn't plan on befriending strangers too easily.

Finally finished with all of my settings, I wondered if I was able to actually play today. The fact that I got this far in the settings meant the server was open, right? Though there was a possibility that you can set your account in advance.

Either way, I tapped on the [Done] button on the window which was still in front of me, and the room once again disappeared into darkness.

Within the next second, blue lights surrounded me, and I appeared in the middle of what seemed to be a town square. The lights quickly faded, and I looked around me in closer detail.

The road was paved with little grey pebbles and the houses and shops were mainly made with lighter grey bricks. The whole atmosphere reminded me of the older days (haha, like I would know..).

There were all sorts of people bustling around the town and I could see a path to my left heading out of the town. Many people with maps headed out that way. All in all, this place reminded me of Quebec, the city.

I seriously felt like screeching in happiness at this new world and its detail, but not wanting to attract the looks of strangers, I walked away from my starting point with a big smile on my face. It was all so exciting! Good thing the server is open – this totally beats sitting on the couch.

A little ways away, I sat down on a bench. I figured this place must be [Starting City] that my brother had let me know about, but I wanted to check all of my controls first.

As I swiped my right hand down putting my fingers together as my brother had shown me countless times and opened up the menu window. Seriously, what would I have done if my brother hadn't cheerfully told me all these details?

When the white screen popped up, there was an outline of the body on the left (probably for equipping armour and weapons) and a list of options on the right. Though I could read over half of the options, I really wasn't the best at reading, so I just started clicking on all the options to figure out what each one does.

Deciding not to change the options for the ones that double checked that I was sure, such as [Ethic's Code], I steadily went through my options, finding out that I owned a one-handed sword which I equipped, and 500 col. I immediately knew that was money, but wasn't sure how much it was worth. Judging from other games, I'd say it was enough to buy a couple cheap healing potions.

Fortunately for me, the option to change the whole menu into English existed deep in the options, which really helped me out a lot. I realized there were 2 skill slots I could fill, but decided to only fill one for now. Since I already had a one handed sword, I just added the [One Handed Sword] as a skill and moved on. Though there were a few options I still wasn't sure of, I figured I got the gist of it, so I started to walk around in search of a shop selling cheap fundamental items.

As I'd thought before, I was able to get 2 healing potions, or a map. I didn't think I had time to venture out too far today since I had to help make dinner at home, so I decided to get the potions. Even if I got lost, I can just log out.

Immediately after, I headed out to the field to look for the weakest monsters I can train against. This was actually making me nervous – I get scared to die in video games for no apparent reason. I'd be playing a game on a big screen TV, and even while knowing logically dieing wasn't a big deal, I'd actually be scared to die, and now that this is a virtual reality..

But all these thoughts were pushed away as I noticed the small boars roaming around the field. They weren't that big and actually looked a little soft. I drew out my sword and got ready for the fight.

I picked out a single boar that was a little further from the rest of them so as not to attract all of the mobs. While looking through the options earlier, there was a manual with a diagram showing how to activate a sword skill. Apparently these were supposed to be the main method of attacking so I decided to give it a try.

Lifting my sword up as I walked cautiously towards the boar, I was my sword start to glow red as the system recognized the attack [Vertical]. Instinctively, I slashed down at the boar after a brief moment to charge the attack. The system assisted my swing down against the boar and I felt an exhilarating feeling of my arm moving faster than planned and plunged the sword cleanly into the mob.

It would have made my day if the boar had just died with that one attack, but unfortunately, it screeched and threw its head against me. It still had two thirds of it's HP.

Not expecting the move, I stumbled back yelling out, as I noticed my HP bar on the top left of my vision drop by ten percent. Calming down after realizing it's attack wasn't nearly enough to kill me, I positioned my sword to my right to try out the skill [Horizontal].

Having a similar feeling as the last time, I hit the boar, but this time tried to immediately jump back. Strangely, my body would not move for a split second, which caused me to lose my balance when I _could _move, so I ended up on my but. Vaguely recalling my brother mentioning the delay after a sword skill I sulkily started to get back when the boar charged at me.

Being pushed even further back, I got a little pissed at the low-level mob, and charged at it, this time trying out [Slant]. I saw it's HP quickly decline to red, then nothing as I hit it. The satisfactory explosion of it turning into shards let me know it had died.

Sighing at how much trouble I had against the weakest monster, I sheathed my sword and checked what I got out of the fight.

I compared the exp I got to the amount I still needed and sighed once again, though I wasn't surprised. I had gotten 20 exp, and I needed 1000 to reach level 2. This is why I never ended up playing MMOs for too long. Seeing that I had [Hide of Boar] in my inventory, I figured the monster had dropped the item, though it was probably trash mat.

Still having most of my HP, I skipped the potion and kept at killing the boars. I got significantly better too, if I may say so myself. Even after being surrounded by 5 of them, I was able to kill them off after only being hit once.

Not feeling pain was extremely nice too. Though I felt a weird numbing sensation occasionally, it didn't stop me from making my moves, and I hesitated less to attack these monsters. I was also able to kill the boars in two slants if I swung my sword hard enough.

As I noticed my health bar turn yellow, I stopped swinging my sword and took a short break. Feeling rather accomplished and being closer to level 2, I checked the time by opening my menu once more, and found it was already 5:20. I'd already been playing for over 3 hours!

Opening my newly blue eyes as wide as possible, I yelled out 'Ahhhhhhh!' Now that I look, the sun was starting set in the game too.

Hurriedly looking through my options, I tried to locate the logout button. I was supposed to be back helping with dinner by now..

Maybe because I was panicking, but I couldn't find the button anywhere, nor could I remember locating it when I was looking through my menu. I was close to [Starting City] anyway, so I decided it'd be faster to ask someone there.

Normally, I wouldn't talk to strangers easily, and I'd have to prep myself up with a speech ready, but I really didn't have time so I rushed back to the city and looked around for someone who seemed approachable.

Most of the characters seemed a little older than me, who still looked 15, but there was one guy who looked the same age and was by himself so I walked up to him hesitantly and asked out.

"Um, Hi, sorry to trouble you.. but I was wondering if you could help me out? I have things to do in the real world, but I can't seem to find the logout button.." Feeling my face go a little red from asking such a stupid question, I quickly lifted my eyes which were looking down, and glanced up at the guy I was talking to.

He was a little bit taller than me, and had light brown hair that softly sat atop his head with large hazel eyes. He looked absolutely adorable and nice.. but cutting my train of thoughts, he answered

"The logout button? That should be in a pretty obvious place.." and he opened up his own menu and started scrolling down the list of options, sometimes tapping a few to see if it was listed in one of the options. He finally looked back at me with troubled eyes and informed me he couldn't find it either.

"Oh... well maybe I can ask someone else then.. Thanks anyway!" I smiled and was about to turn away when he suddenly seemed to catch on blue fire - no that was the blue light signifying teleportation.

Raising my eyebrows, I was about to say something but my vision was also suddenly flooded with blue, and I saw the world around me fade black once again.

_A/U – Gosh that was a longer than expected chapter – Hopefully it wasn't too boring. I'll speed up the pace as soon as I can so please continue reading . Oh and as always, any sort of reviews are completely welcome!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own SAO._


	3. Chapter 3: Tutorial

_Thank you very much for the reviews! I hope you all enjoy my next chapter!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own SAO._

**Chapter 3: Tutorial**

As the blue pillar of light faded away enough for me to be able to see again, I was in a huge plaza with a great number of people, possibly all 10 000 people of the population. It seemed like there were more being teleported in though. The boy who was in front of me was still be beside me, looking absolutely bewildered.

I must have looked just as bewildered as him because when I looked up at the boy, he shrugged and said 'Maybe it's a tutorial?'

I nodded and looked around me once again wondering what was about to happen. The sight that met me was utter chaos where the majority of the people were yelling and moving, some sounding very angry. I picked up a few lines and figured out the reason.

"Where in the world is the logout button?!"

"Get on with this, I have things to do in reality!"

"Don't worry, it's probably a tutorial"

"My pizza.."

"Shut up, your pizza's not going anywhere!"

So the logout button really was missing? That's a rather extreme error in the game.. but then maybe that's why we were all brought to the same place. I checked the time once again to see that it was already past 5:30. Well my mom can't really blame me for not making dinner if I'm trapped, right?

Interrupting my thoughts, the boy next to me yelled out "Ah.. Look up!" while pointing up. Up above, there was a checkered pattern in red with the messages 'Warning' and 'System Announcement'.

To my horror, a thick blood like substance oozed out of it and formed into a shape of a huge cloaked figure. "Giant dementor.." I breathed out.

The boy beside me had apparently heard me and looked at me weird before snickering quietly. Going all red, I looked back at the figure to hide my face, but I could feel the blood flowing into my face as he snickered on. Yea, yea, so I'm a huge Harry Potter fanatic.. so what?

The next words the figure said seemed to choke the boy, and I stared in confusion.

"Players, I welcome you all to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world."

As the creator of the world continued on explaining the rules of the game, all the blood in my face completely drained out, turning my pink face to pale white. The hazel eyed boy started to stand stock still, all amusement gone out of his eyes.

For a parting gift, Kayaba gave us all a [Hand Mirror] which I materialized instantly and saw my avatar reflected within it. I had forgotten how much better I looked in this game than reality..

As I vaguely wondered if that was also the case for the boy beside me who also gazed in the mirror, a blue pillar of light once again engulfed the both of us.

When I looked back in the mirror, I found my real face looking back at me. Unfortunately, none of my usual makeup was on, so I looked like an extremely average girl. I had soft dark brown hair past my shoulders with a slight wave and lighter brown eyes with a tint of yellow. Even in game, I still had bags under my eyes, but fortunately no acne. My round nose, lips that were too full for my liking, and my extremely round face that made me look younger than I was were all perfect replicas of my face from reality. Looking down, I noticed how my body was also perfectly copied. Luckily, it seemed I didn't have any hair, but my breasts were quite small now.

How the Nerve Gear is able to scan my whole body was a complete mystery to me, but I was a little upset at it for not scanning my make up along with my face.. Or so I was thinking for a moment before I realized it.

I am now in a DEATH GAME and I was worried about LOOKING GOOD? I didn't even know anyone in this game!

And that was when things finally started to sink in – I knew _no one_ within this game. Though I may not be one of those outgoing types of girls, I was fairly social myself and not talking with anyone for too long was bound to make me go.. insane. Just to make things worse, it's the middle of November and I was supposed to fly back to Canada in 2 days. I'm going to miss so much school, I better not fail..

This train of thought gave me a whole new wave of panic. Unlike Japan with entrance exams for university, your marks throughout school is very important to get into a good university and get a job. I've been maintaining a 90% average, but if I miss too much time in school, or fail a course for the semester.. Wouldn't my whole life be ruined?

As I was about to start hyperventilating, I tried to calm myself down by thinking of the situation logically. I've never played through an MMORPG game before, but they couldn't take too long could they? Now that there were 10 000 people trying to clear the game and none of us were going to logout to take a break, shouldn't the game go by quickly? The castle's structure has 100 floors, so we could do 1-2 floors a day? That would take around 2 months. That was bad, but manageable right?

Wiping the virtual sweat that was forming on my forehead, I breathed in deeply through my nose and out again through my mouth. I could wait in the city for others to clear the game, but I wanted to get out of this game as soon as possible. Not that I expected to be that much help, but even a day would be crucial for me to get back home to Canada. I felt like I had enough healing potions and HP to at least go train with those boars again..

Which was when I realized I still had a little less than half of my health left. I had never recovered my health since I left the field!

Normally, I still wouldn't bother wasting a precious potion now that I was in a [Safe Area], but everything seemed different now. Not wanting to risk anything, I materialized a potion after a moment of fiddling with the menu and downed it in one, barely noticing its bitter taste.

My thoughts were spinning around my head so fast that I really thought I'd black out, or at least space out, but my mind wouldn't even let me do that. It kept on reminding me of all the issues I had.

Considering I was a newbie in this game, I doubt people would want to party with me, much less friend me. Possibly if I had been as cute as I was before Kayaba had made us look like our real selves! But I really wasn't sure if I could survive, both literally and mentally without someone else to help me out. I used to always play these kind of games with my brother guiding me. It would be nice if someone could help me out a little. But again, no one would want to be with me unless I was actually useful so I had better start levelling up soon.

The only other choice I had was to simply stay in this city, but, again, that would mean no contact with anyone for at least 2 months, if not more. Not only that, but I wouldn't have anything to do for so long. I'd break down mentally for sure. Which lead me back to the first option – level up and find people who would welcome me.

Wobbling out of the plaza in a daze, I first headed to the shop I had originally gotten the healing potions. After selling all the items I had gained from the boars, I was able to buy a simple pouch along with two medium levelled potions.

As soon as I felt comfortable with the three healing items (one from the start of the day) secured in my pouch, I headed out of the city the same way as before. Somehow, I felt stronger now and my strides were much more powerful than just a few minutes ago.

Perhaps it was the potions making me feel confident, but I think my mind just rejected the thought of me dying. Logically I knew Kayaba didn't lie - the nerve gear probably could fry our brains- but it didn't sink in how I could actually die soon. Not even that I might die in real life, but my mind rejected the possibility that I could die in the game. With this many potions, and the training I had earlier, I somehow felt very confident that I wouldn't die. But again, my mind was probably just freezing up to the horrible possibility.

That was when I realized what an idiot I was. _I was more worried about missing my flight and school than dieing._

Pushing away my idiotic thoughts, I reached the field I was at earlier, but I kept on walking to a field a little larger with more boars. There were already a few players hunting down the mobs, but I figured this way I could kill more boars in a shorter amount of time, and call for help if I really needed it. Now the sun was low in the horizon, making the wide field of grass tinted in orange. The scene was very calming, even one of the boars was lying down in the grass. What a joke. Like I could die from them!

Taking out my sword, I charged at the resting boar and activated a sword skill [Vertical] to hit it awake. Don't you dare offend my determination for survival!

_A/U: Hahaha, 2 months! Missing 2 years there, Roza :P Also, did anyone else think of a dementor (from Harry Potter) at the description of Kayaba? _

_ I'm gonna introduce a (new?) character next chapter, which will hopefully make the story more fun, so please read on ^.^_


	4. Chapter 4: Raiki

_Disclaimer: I do not own SAO._

**Chapter 4: Raiki**

Soon after levelling up to level 2, the field I had been hunting on had started to over crowd. It was rather upsetting because I had planned to level up once more before finding a place to stay at, but that seemed to be impossible now. I now needed 3000 exp to level up, and these [Frenzy Boars] only gave 20 exp, which wasn't going to cut it. My pace had also declined considerably ever since a particularly large party started hunting here too.

The party consisted of 7 people and they had just taken over the middle of the field. I had an impulse to go complain to them since the rest of us were here first, but the guy who seemed to be the leader looked rather intimidating. He seemed quite a bit older than me, had red spiky hair, a beard, and even wore a bandana on his head. An understandable appearance for an avatar, but since that was his real appearance, I was afraid he was a rough guy..

A little annoyed, I turned around and saw another boar spawn in front of me. I quickly lifted my arm that was still carrying my Small Sword and activated a sword skill. Just as I brought my arm down though, someone else hit the boar from the side, causing it to run away and, in turn, caused me to lose balance when I didn't hit my target. Stumbling forward for a few steps, I managed to not fall flat on my head and turned around with a scowl on my face. That was obviously my prey..

"Hey." I said in a rather low voice, now feeling quite a bit moody. Noticing that the guy in front of me was a teen like me, not to mention dumb looking, I kept up my complaint. "I understand that there are a lot of people here, but that doesn't mean you can just snatch away other people's prey!" Before I could go on any further though, the guy started apologizing in high speed.

"Wh-Whoa, sorry! I'm really so sorry. I didn't see you there. I haven't really played MMORPG games before and I didn't really know what I'm doing. I guess I'd better go somewhere else.. Sorry again, but do you know anywhere else that has these monsters?" He said with wide eyes while raising his hands in front of himself like he touched something he wasn't supposed to. Finally he cocked his head at his question while still looking sorry. Gosh, now he's making _me _feel bad for yelling... Not fair.

"O-oh, I'm sorry I was just getting stressed. Sorry I didn't mean to yell at you. And no, I can't really help you out, I don't play MMOs too much either, so I don't really know too much about Aincrad. And I don't have a map or anything either.."

"That's alright, I'm the one who's supposed to be apologizing," He answered with a sheepish smile. "You don't happen to know someone who can help then, do you?"  
"No, sorry, I don't know anyone in this game.."

"Seriously? Me neither! Hey, do you want to go look for a better hunting spot together then? This place is pretty crowded.."

His sudden change of attitude surprised me at first, but then I realized he must have wanted someone to talk to, like me. Only he was smart about it and actually tried talking to strangers. Normally, I would have declined this sort of invitation by a stranger, but honestly this is a perfect chance to try to make a friend. Plus he had a point, there was no point hunting here anymore. The only thing was that he was a guy.. I don't really have many guy friends so I don't know how to treat them. I felt a little nervous around them, but I guess I better get used it. The majority of the players were guys after all. I replied with a smile to make myself seem friendlier. "Sure"

"Alrriight!" He said extra cheerfully. "I'm Raiki!"

"I'm Auu..-Roza" Shoot, I was supposed to say my user name. "Sorry, it's Roza, haha" I confirmed in embarrassment as he cocked his head once again.

I was awkwardly laughing when I felt a hairy and powerful push against the back of my legs. Caught by surprise, I yelled out in a pretty high voice "Uwa!" as I completely smashed into the boy – Raiki, and fell down. Not in a romantic way. As I pushed him over with my hands that were out in front of me to catch my fall, he smashed his head on the floor and seemed to be a little stunned. I was still falling so I aimed my hands out to the sides of his head and tried to do a somersault over his body so as not to hurt him (forgetting that we can't feel pain). Unfortunately, I ended up crashing onto the ground head first on the other side of him and kept rolling with momentum. At least I didn't smash on top of Raiki. That would have been awkward, not that this isn't.

Finally picking myself off of the ground, I quickly looked back and saw that Raiki was only now about to get up and there was a boar about to charge once again. Stupid boar, it was probably the one Raiki had slashed into earlier. I'd thought someone else had finished it off by now, but apparently not. Both he and I still had plenty of health and had nothing to worry about, but I instinctively dashed at the boar while picking up the sword that had fallen to the ground. Seeing that it only had half of it's health, thanks to Raiki, I simply hit the boar with a [Horizontal] slash from the right and it died.

Mixed in with the sound of shattering glass I heard Raiki call out 'Bravo!' as he came jogging up to me. _He sure is a loud and energetic one,_ I thought as I smiled and thanked him with a deep bow lifting my skirt as a joke. A little more seriously, I apologized.

"So sorry for knocking you over! And I stole your kill too.." I looked down a little, but it seemed he was still cheerful as ever.

"Stop apologizing, it's totally fine. I took your 'prey' anyway so now we're even right, Roza-chan?"

He imitated my choice of word, 'prey', with a smirk. Making fun of me even though we just met.. but I wasn't upset; it felt like we were friends. I tried to hide my small embarrassment for yelling at hime earlier by rolling my eyes slightly."Just call me Roza, it's just a nickname anyway." Honestly, I'm just not used to people, ahem guys, using honorifics for me, so I was embarrassed. Turning around slightly I said "Let's go".

He quickly caught up to me as I started to walk away from the field and towards the woods that were close by and he told me cheerfully to just call him Raiki as well. That was also a little embarrassing, but I let it go, deciding to get used to it. As I said, it's just a nickname.

Raiki swung his arms in wide arcs as he walked beside me. He had a smile on his face too, like he doesn't understand that we could die anytime, but maybe he was acting for me so I don't get intimidated. This guy really acts so friendly even though we just met. He kind of reminded me of a little kid with his childish movements and carefree smile, but I had enough amazing friends to know these kinds of people really existed. He seemed fun to be around, I thought with a smile.

His looks matched his personality perfectly as well. Unlike the guy I had met earlier to ask about the log out button, he gave off a more mischievous vibe. He had soft looking sand coloured hair that stood up on top of his head while the hair on the sides of his head were cut shorter. He had a sharp nose and angular jaws, but still looked kind with his hot chocolate coloured eyes. He also looked muscular and stood taller than me by a couple inches, but the constant smile in both his eyes and lips made him look very gentle. Not wanting him to catch me checking him out, I looked back at the field of grass in front of me.

I guess that tutorial actually hadn't sunk into me yet, but I doubt it really had for Raiki either. Maybe because we both didn't have people to talk to, but here we are deciding to go hunting without anyone else like it was no big deal. It probably was stupid, but I didn't feel in danger with him and his happy vibe, so I didn't think too much of it. If things get tough, we could always run.

We kept on walking at a fast pace towards the forest we saw around a kilometre away hoping for some easy mobs to fight. The field glowed orange with the sunset, but I didn't feel tired at all. I'm just hoping the visibility doesn't drop too much too soon, or we won't be able to fight any monsters. Even though we're both idiots to go hunting ourselves, I'm not too worried because I really think Raiki is genuinely a nice guy from the way he's acted so far. Knows how to apologize, and acts very friendly. Meeting such a nice guy on the very first day – seems like I might do alright in this world.

As if my thoughts were jinxed, I looked back to my left expecting the cheerful smile of Raiki, only to find the vast field spotted solely with a couple trees.

_A/U Decided I better make some suspense :P What do you think of Raiki? Any feedback/reviews are very welcome! Also, I'm going to be in Japan for the rest of the month, so I won't be able to update much at all. I just wanted to get this one chapter out before I leave, so here ya go!_


	5. Chapter 5: SAO

_Author's Notes: Hey, I'm back, and I just about got over my jet lag, so I should be posting a little more often now. Only school's starting, and I'm going to concentrate on that more than this story, so I'm just going to post at my own pace. Sorry if it feels really slow!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online. _

**Chapter 5: SAO**

I turned 360 degree while walking to see if Raiki had ended up on the other side of me, but I still couldn't locate him. We were.. - I was in the middle of a fairly open field with a couple of shrubs and trees here and there. Not a sight where I could have simply looked over him. Even if he had run at his maximum pace off into any direction, I should still have been able to spot him because of the low grass that stretched out on all sides other than the forest we were headed to, which was too far to run to in a matter of seconds. But I couldn't understand why he would run away from me anyway – he was the one who invited me!

I once again looked around in confusion, wondering how in the world he could have disappeared so quickly without a sound. I walked back a little ways, wondering if he had tripped, but that was just wishful thinking. Even if he had tripped, I should have been able to spot the blue of his standard clothing. I finally realized the only way for him to have disappeared would be for him to have actually decided to hide behind a tree or a shrub.

From what I know of Raiki's personality, he would be the type of guy to play random games like hide-and-seek to have fun, but he hadn't said a word before going off. Maybe he had decided he actually didn't like me and had run off.. Though that was a stupid move, I suppose that would be the most logical conclusion. I don't know what I was expecting of him, but it certainly wasn't this. I frowned with disappointment and a tinge of hurt before deciding to walk on, when I heard a knocking sound against a tree that stood alone behind me and an extremely muffled "Mmmm!".

I looked up and around at the source of sound and finally found Raiki up in the tree, partially concealed by the branches and yellowing leaves of the small tree. For a second I was annoyed at his poor job of hiding in a tree, but I noticed a cursor of a monster pop up right beside him. Looking closely, it seemed like he was being attacked by a monster, [Silent Tree Dweller – Level 3] I read.

The monster looked like a plant type mob, though I haven't ever seen anything like it before. It was so perfectly camouflaged within the tree, I hadn't noticed it even when staring at Raiki until the red cursor popped up- it had a hard looking brown body that looked like a tree stump, as well specks of yellow that were the same shades as the leaves on its numerous tentacles that sprouted from the base of the creature. I named it in my mind 'tree squid' before I fully realized the issue.

The camouflage made it hard to see at first, but as the monster leisurely sat on a branch, it seemed to have a tentacle around Raiki's mouth, which explained the muffled sound. Raiki was thrashing around trying to get free as another tentacle started to tighten its grip against his neck. His HP had started to go down slowly, but surely. Another 30 seconds, and Raiki.. Shaking my head, I yelled up at him,

"Just take your sword and swing it around, Raiki!"

"MmmmMMMmMmm" was all I got as an answer, but I had realized as I was yelling that the monster had yet another tentacle clasping the sword against it's sheath. What a dirty trick! But I suppose that explained the rather weak attack along with its level.

While I thought these things in the back of my mind, I tried to figure out how I could help Raiki. He was caught in the branches that were a little too high for me to reach with my sword, and I didn't have time to try to climb the tree myself.

Eyeing the trunk of the small tree, which had approximately the same circumference as when I put my thumbs and index fingers together to make a large circle, I decided to give my plan a try. I swiftly took out my sword and got ready to activate the sword skill [Slant], my most powerful skill at the moment that let me slash once in a diagonal line.

Angling my sword to my bottom left as I raised my sword I gave out a little "Hah" as I swung my sword down along with the system. Fortunately, it went right through the trunk without much effort.

The tree toppled over to the right, which caused the monster to finally let go of Raiki. He still had half of his health so it seemed we were safe for now. As the tree smashed into the ground, the tree shattered into shards, leaving only the mob and Raiki. Raiki jumped up and away from the creature, but it seemed to shrivel up now that it wasn't in a tree. It seemed like once it was out of the tree, it was completely defenseless. Deciding it would be better to finish it off, I swung my sword into it a couple of times before it too shattered.

I tried to sound nonchalant, like I didn't think or care that Raiki had left me, or that he could have died, but inside I was quit ecstatic. _He didn't leave me. He almost died! I saved him! _ After a deep breath, what came out on my face was a very bored and possibly unimpressed look as I looked back at Raiki. "Well we're lucky I was strong enough to cut through the tree, eh?"

"More like lucky the tree wasn't immortal – I tried climbing another tree earlier and the game would let me because the tree was immortal." Of course he had tried climbing.

"Really? Huh, you'd think all trees would be the same. Maybe this tree wasn't immortal because there was a monster on it though. Maybe that was what we were supposed to do to kill it."

"Ohh, that makes sense. Well thank you for helping me, I don't think I could have gotten out of that situation alone. I'm so glad I got to know you!"

Now that finally got some reaction out of me. My face in this world is much harder to control than in the real world so I felt a my face warm a little pink from the compliment. Ignoring that I answered "No problem" and we went along our way after Raiki healed his health, which was still in the green zone.

Guys are so hard to handle – anything they say that's remotely nice suddenly sounds like they're giving you a huge compliment. If they're friendly, your not sure if they're just nice, or are nice specifically to you. I suppose most girls don't think of it that way, but for girls who don't have guy friends, that's how it is. I didn't realize I was that desperate.. And it didn't help that Raiki is a little attractive!

..Wow, I actually just thought that. I just met this guy today, and I'm already checking this guy out! Just no. He is simply an acquaintance, and hopefully soon to be friend. I will treat him like my other friends, and hope things work out, I decided. Taking a deep breath with my resolve, I took another step forward along with Raiki, now entering a path in the woods.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, there were no one else in the woods as we discovered level 2 mobs, crow sized birds and carnivorous flowers that came up to my knees. Advancing even further, we found a small clearing where there were more monsters and space to move. Figuring this was the best hunting ground we'll find for now, we started attacking mercilessly.

It took only an hour before the sun set too low for us to be able to see clearly. It was now 8 pm so we had ended up hunting for approximately an hour, in which time I learned a lot about fighting with a sword. I didn't end up levelling up, but Raiki had levelled up to level 2 soon after we started hunting so now we were the same level.

I'd thought that Raiki would have the same amount of skill as me, if not less, when it came to sword fighting because I found I had been training a little more than him before we met, but that was obviously not the case. Even though he said he didn't play MMOs, it seemed he knew that there are 'critical points' on a monster where the damage dealt would double. Even while knowing that, I didn't have enough skill to repeatedly hit it in the exact right location the way Raiki does. From the occasional times I would be resting and watching Raiki fight, I felt like I learned how to fight in a more proper manner. He would quickly dodge any on coming attacks without moving excessivly while getting ready his sword skill. As the ended its attack, he would swiftly attack the weak point while yelling out a rather quiet and short "Ha" with effort.

It was so completely different from his usual personality, I was quite frankly shocked when I saw it at first. I'd been expecting him to swing his sword like a maniac, kind of the way he was in the tree without his sword, and boast over every won battle. It made me wonder though, whether his fun personality was actually just a fake persona used to get to know people. I mean I can't exactly talk because I often laugh and smile at things that really aren't funny or keep a straight face when I'm sad or angry. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Well whatever the case, I'm very glad I got to hunt with him and even got to know him pretty well. He seemed like a very reliable fighter, and it made the day a little more fun.

Before watching Raiki, I hadn't really thought of fighting styles. I mostly just hit when I can, but kept my life on priority by dodging all attacks and hitting only when there was a wide opening. After seeing Raiki, I had a competition with him in my head, counting who could hit the most critical points today, but I lost 4 - 16. Which I kept to myself. So I'm not that accurate, and I take my time to kill mobs. The only advantage was that I barely lost any life. Normally I wouldn't mind too much, but I'm unnecessarily competitive, so as Raiki slowly caught up to me in experience points, I decided I'm going to have to do something to make myself stronger. ..Tomorrow.

The sun was completely set by now, and everything looked like a dark shade of blue when we finally walked out of the forest we were hunting in Since we couldn't see. Our HP were fully healed thanks to our potions, so we were walking back to [Starting City], which could be seen not too far, in a carefree manner. From what we know, there aren't any monsters on this field except for in the trees so we were walking with our swords sheathed, me walking a couple steps behind Raiki.

I don't really know how close you have to be to 'friend' each other in games, so I decided not to ask about it for now, though it would have been nice. Instead, I brought up some courage to ask another question.

"Hey, so I know we just met and stuff, but I was wondering if you want to go hunting with me again another time? Maybe even tomorrow, but obviously you don't have to. I just thought it was pretty fun, so.. hopefully we can meet again?" Luckily this time, my avatar face reacted the same way as it would in real life – a completely cool neutral look that made it sound like I didn't care too much about the answer. Hopefully. In truth, I'm not sure if I'd be able to meet someone else to party with anytime soon so I really wanted to get closer with him. He was fun to be with, and strong too. My survival rate would go up for sure and my days would become much less boring.

"Ya, I'd love to hang out again! I'm glad you thought today was fun too, I was worried I was having fun by myself, you know, 'cause I made you come along with me and then even got caught in a monster trap. Not to mention how we didn't talk at all while fighting.. But anyway, ya I'm bored anyway so we should get together tomorrow! Can I friend you so it's easier to contact you?" That fast speech sounded so happy, it made all of my worries seem idiotic. He really seemed like a dog yelping and wagging his tail.. I don't know where his coolness in fights came from, but this is the Raiki I got to know. Smiling with real happiness I answered back quickly too.

"Ya for sure! I mean I don't want to just take you as my hunting partner, but I really don't know anyone else here, so I'm glad we can be friends," which we are right? We both opened up our windows to look for the friending option, but Raiki figured it out first so I simply accepted the invitation to become friends when the window popped in front of me. "I mean, I don't know what I would have done for the next 2 months or so by myself, haha."

"Wait, 2 months? Why, you think you're going to make a friend for sure after 2 months or something?" He looked extremely confused, which made confusion seep into my face too.

"Huh? No, I just kind of assumed the game would be over around then.. Well maybe that was a little optimistic.. but in the next 3-4 months, right?"

"..." Now there were no traces of his everlasting smile, and he looked very serious, but I can see the sadness in his eyes as he stopped walking and looked down straight into my eyes. I now stood right beside him with surprise and confusion as he gave off a completely different aura. "I'm sorry Roza.. but the beta test only got 8 floors done in 2 months. I doubt we're going anywhere for at least another 2 years."

Years. 2 years. Whether the field we were at was really quiet, or my brain was simply malfunctioning, I don't know, but I suddenly couldn't hear anything but his echoing words. My eyes are locked onto the dark brown eyes as I tried to process this information.

"Bu-but that was only a beta test, and now that there are so many people.. and n-none of us are logging out to take breaks.. Our pace will speed up.." I tried to refuse with my words so broken it probably did not making much sense to him but he kept on looking at me with those eyes telling me it's true, and his sympathy for me.

Some people might have been annoyed by the sympathy, but I was too stunned to care. I understood he was telling me the truth, whatever the case, we would now have to act extra careful fighting against monsters so as not to die, so we may even take longer than 2 years. 2 years – that was as long as my middle school in Canada. Back then everyday was a lot of fun with no worries, but even so, 2 years felt like they lasted for a while. Now the same amount would be spent in this game, that was not truly a game any longer. A new life where death was proximate.

As I felt my eyes start to tunnel a little, I took a deep breath to calm myself and broke our eye contact. I looked up at the darkening sky – no, the bottom of the next floor that was a 100 meters above our heads as I blanked out my mind and mumbled out "Well..". I felt my vision come back to me and I tilted my head a little down to see that Raiki hadn't moved an inch and was still watching me sympathetically.

"Stop looking so sad," I snapped. "I'm sorry you had to tell me that, I guess I just really am stupid when it comes to MMOs.. Well, nothing's changed, right? Let's just go back as planned, and.. I'll figure out what I'm going to do for the next while.." What a load of bull. But it got Raiki moving towards the city, and I simply walked behind him without even looking up.

Nothing has changed, nothing has changed. I'll keep on acting as I had so I can get of here as soon as I can. None of my actions should change.

-But I know that's not true. Deep down, I was sincerely scared. Before, I had simply brushed off the idea of this game's new rules. Sure death in this game would be a real death, but I had thought if I could simply play it safe, as I had in all of my previous games, someone would eventually clear the game before I had to do anything actually dangerous. It had been like a vacation from the Earth. Sword Art Online had still been a game to me.

That may have been why I came out hunting before many showed up. Why I was able to have fun with Raiki in a light hearted manner. But now I was truly afraid of not getting out of the game, ever. Of _getting _out of the game – who knows what I would do for education then. But before any of these fears, I had a bigger emotion threatening to overwhelm me. Claustrophobia. For lack of words, that was what I felt in my chest. Not being able to get out of here of my own free will. Not able to even go hunting anywhere I wanted because I was too weak.

I had only felt this a couple of times in my life before, and they weren't the normal way people felt claustrophobia, or so I believe. My claustrophobia was more like a fear of not being able to move the way I want to, when I want to. My friends and I used to play a game as kids, where we would wrap one of us up tightly in several blankets while they stood up. Making sure their arms and legs were tucked in nicely, we'd push them onto a mattress, where we'd layer another blanket, and cave in their face with pillows. Finally, we'd watch and time the person as she would try to get free as fast as she can. It was actually quite a fun way to spend time, and it even became a regular game we played until we decided we were too old for it.

I, too, had been wrapped up a few times and was forced to try to disentangle myself. The weird thing was, being cocooned by blankets, tossed onto a mattress, and getting caved in was not one bit scary, and was just as fun as being on the other side, wrapping people up. The second I tried to move my arms though, things started to not feel so much like a game. You'd be surprised by how tight blankets can wrap people up. By wriggling desperately for a minute or so, one arm gets free of the bundle, and then you can actually try to come out feeling confident, but until then, I really was scared at how immobile I was, even when I put all of my strength in coming out. I don't know what I expected – maybe for the blankets to wrip off if I put all of my energy to it, but of course that doesn't happen. Ever since playing this game though, I realized I had a new fear.

Claustrophobia? If I go into a small space, I wouldn't freak out unless I'm not able to get out on my own, or I start pressing on the walls and find them stock solid, but I certainly will freak if I try to move and realize I can't. Then I'd always get a constricting feeling in my chest and feel a little light headed, but usually I don't change too much visibly. You may hear my breathing rate go up a little, but that's it, which is why even most of my closest friends know about this little fear of mine that occures so rarely.

But at this very moment, I had the exact same feelings as I've had before with my chest feeling constricted and having to take deep breaths so I can try to think clearly. I may not be in a small space, but I certainly was not capable of getting out of here, and it seems that was good enough of a reason for my body to act this way. Correction: mind to act this way. My real body was probably still layed in that awkward position on the couch.

"What's going to happen with our real bodies then?" I asked. The sky that we could see had a deep purple tinge to it now, and I could only see a silhouette of Raiki. It seemed we were merely 100 more meters from the city now too.

"Well I'm not exactly sure, but we'll probably be transported to a hospital and injected with things to keep us alive. I'm sure you don't want to know about the details though, right?"

"Ugh, no thanks. Not that you'd know the details anyway.." I weakly smile as we cross in the city and the [Inner Area] sign pops up.

"True."

Immediately after walking into the city, the path split in a three way fork. The two paths to each of my sides had a slight curve to it, forming the outermost path of this circular city. Neither Raiki nor I knew which way we were supposed to go so we awkwardly stood in the empty intersection with a street lamp giving us extra light. Come to think of it, I wasn't sure where we wanted to go either. Do we need sleep? If so, there must be inns, in which case we may end up splitting up - he's probably not expecting to stay at the same inn with someone he just met. If we really are splitting up.. I suddenly felt rushed to say something that I felt the need to reask my question.

"Hey Raiki, I'm really sorry for being a complete idiot.. I mean about not knowing the time.. but could we still get together tomorrow? I mean 2 months or 2 years, I still don't know anyone else so it would be good if we could hang out or something... Sometimes.." I know my face doesn't have the usual cheerful smile, nor does my speech have the usual casual feeling. I'm feeling so much more anxious in making a friend so I can live through, mentally, the next 2 years. A little worry must show through on my face, because Raiki he was looking straight into my eyes as I glanced up for his reaction and gave me the warmest smile yet.

"Oooobviouslyy." He rolled his eyes but he continued to smile. "You think I'm going to hate you for being an idiot? You realize I'm just as stupid. And remember I don't know anyone either. Anyhow, do you know what we're supposed to do now? We can't hunt safely with this lighting, but I don't know what else to do." He cocked his head again making an obviously confused face.

My heart slowed down and my frown seized as I heard the relieving words. I hadn't even noticed how anxious I was.

I suppose I really was an idiot for my anxieties. I mean, what did I expecting to say? We've already said we'll get together. Raiki was now looking around, flipping his head left and right to find something to do. Yup, he reminds me of a dog.

"Gosh, I was just being nice saying I'm an idiot - don't go thinking I'm actually pretty stupid"

"Yaya, well then what do you think we should do, Ms. Genius?"

"I didn't say genius.." I mumbled quietly.

"Huh?"

"Never mind. My guess is that there's some place we can stay like an inn or hotel where we rest for the night."

"You mean sleep?"

"No. I mean stay up all night and rest. Obviously I mean sleep."

"Okaay, okay, I just didn't know if we can sleep here."

"Well I'm not too sure myself.. But then, why not? Our minds need rest too."

"Guess so. Well then let's go!" Raiki headed straight into the middle of the city with a bound. I don't know why he felt confident that's the right way, but I followed him anyway, feeling once again grateful for his presence.


End file.
